sundance-communications.com Forums Member Forums Phone Booth When authors fail to do their homework – or- how many things are wrong here?

I found time lately to do some reading. “The Run” (2000) by Stuart Woods, has a domestic terrorist planting a bomb under the podium at the Democratic National Convention. The bomb is triggered by a voice mail system. Here is what Woods wrote:

Chapter 46: “It’s a Partner Plus office system, with a max of 24 extensions, and they’re all in use.”

Chapter 49: “Across town, Zeke went into an electronics shop and began buying. He bought a telephone voice-mail system that was compatible with the Lucent equipment being used for the convention podium, a number of other parts, and some Lucent labels.
Back in his room, he unscrewed the top of the voice-mail box and, using the wiring diagram that had come with the unit, traced the printed circuits for various functions. When he had all the functions traced, he soldered a thin wire to a circuit, then attached the other end to a flashlight bulb. Using the system’s built-in recorder, he recorded a list of voice-mail options. Finally, he connected the voice-mail system to Rosa’s phone line and, using his cell phone, called the number… He pressed 3 and watched as the flashlight bulb lit up.”

… he went into the closet under the podium and installed his system, connecting it to the last of the 6 telephone lines coming into the podium. Only one of the numbers was given out; a caller dialed the first number, and if it was busy, the call rolled over to the second number, and so on, until all 6 lines were busy. When they were, a caller would get a busy signal. Only if the caller directly dialed the number for the 6th line would he reach Zeke’s voice-mail system, and then only the telephone company and Zeke had that number. Zeke had copied it from the installer’s records.

He attached a Lucent label to the black box.

You can buy Lucent labels? Who knew?

I read "The Run" several years ago and noted the oddities - but I don't expect authors to get it exactly right on these technical issues. If you're not a phone guy, you never would have noticed. By the way, The Run is way better than some of Woods' newer works. I think he's in a mode of churning them out without requiring an actual plot.
Mike

In my opinion, Woods made at least 6 telephony errors here and I was just hoping to provide a little fun for us at his expense.

Well, in that case...
Partner Plus does in fact max at 8 CO lines and 24 stations - so that line is OK.
Voicemail compatible is any 2500-type device - so that opens a fairly wide field.
Assuming that the KSU is in the room under the podium, it sounds like he's hooking it up to the 6th CO line in the telco's hunt sequence, thus Partner compatibility wasn't really necessary.
And, of course, he violated Lucent's copyright.
Nothing else really jumps out at me...
Mike

You can buy NOS Avaya labels for 4400 series telephones from a particular company that sells parts for refurbishing telephone sets.

for a non telephone person I think its a pretty good passage we get posters here that couldn't do as well

So Dave - what are you seeing as incorrect? Don't leave us hanging...
Mike

Ï hesitate to add to this discussion, but I have written fiction and continue to do so in the Japanese style of graphic novel. I have actually made a small amount of money at this endevor, and thus, I can add my two cents worth, though that is what it is probably worth.

When I write, (in one instance, about an operating room scene) I knew and still know almost nothing about sterile field work, anesthesia, medicine, etc and etc. What did I do? Well, I have a very good and dear friend who is a doctor... we grew up together and went to school together. I called him and we got together for lunch. I had a steno pad and questions. He did not have all of the answers (he is not a surgeon, but a family practice physician). He called a friend of his who is a surgical tech. The three of us visited an OR while it was down for upgrade and deep sanitazation. I found the information that I needed.

What I did was not rocket science. I still do not know squat about medicine and surgery except that I try to avoid anything that will cause me to have surgery. But what I DID DO is simply called research. Thus, the OR scene in my little story was believable, if not 100% accurate. That is the difference between a real author and a hack. (I do not consider myself a real author since I do not make my living writing. I write for fun, and if I make a few bucks doing so, all the better.)

Best

Joe

1. 24 extensions is NOT the max for Partner

2. I doubt ANY voice mail system comes with wiring diagrams so detailed that board traces are available. I like how he "unscrewed the top of the voicemail" like it was a jar of peanut butter.

3. "He soldered A thin wire to a circuit". Last time I checked, you would need at least one other "thin wire" soldered elsewhere in order to create a circuit.

4. A typical flashlight bulb is 3V-7.5V. It would blow in a second with ring voltage.

5. How do all six lines hunt, yet only when the sixth line is called directly can the device be triggered?

6. If the man plotting this thing got information from "the installer's records", how does he figure that only he and the telephone company know the key phone number?

What did you come up with, Dave?